It's bad enough getting fired from a job, but to get your
pink slip in an email? That seems to be business as usual at RadioShack these
days. The Boston Globe is reporting that 400 RadioShack employees were fired
via email on Tuesday morning. The message was short and to the point:

The work force
reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is
one that has been eliminated.

Employees were forewarned that layoffs would be coming and
that they would be handed out electronically. Affected persons were given 30
minutes to pack up, make phone calls and say goodbye to co-workers before meeting
with senior managers. From BusinessWeek:

Derrick D'Souza, a
management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard
of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically.
He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees. Laid-off workers got one
to three weeks pay for each year of service, up to 16 weeks for hourly
employees and 36 weeks for those with base bay of at least $90,000, the company
said.

Hopefully, this isn't a sign of things to come in the
business world. RadioShack had announced in February that it planned to close
between 400 to 700 stores. Since then, the company has closed nearly 500
stores already.

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